A Weekend with Relatives
by Vitaliciouscreations
Summary: To say that Jess was surprised when Dean showed up and Sam suddenly just walked out on her to go spend a weekend with his ever-so-mysterious family for some bonding time was definitely an understatement. But if Jess was surprised at that, she was absolutely astounded when two of the most famous demigods in the world showed up on her fire escape.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so, this is the beginning of a NEW story, which hopefully shouldn't take too much time or effort. Uhm...this idea doesn't really include Sam or Dean too much, so, sorry about that and everything.**

**I, ItTicklesLikeCrazy, OWN NOTHING MENTIONED OR INCLUDED IN SUPERNATURAL, PERCY JACKSON, NOR ANY PERSON, PLACE, OR THING OTHERWISE MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING FANFICTION.**

**I only do one disclaimer per story, so that was it. I wasn't really wanting to do a big one this time. That will have to suffice.**

**Enjoy.**

To say that Jess was surprised when Dean showed up and Sam suddenly just walked out on her to go spend a weekend with his ever-so-mysterious family for some bonding time was definitely an understatement. But if Jess was just surprised at that event, she was absolutely astounded in the happenings afterward. It seemed that the weekend after Halloween was determined to become a family weekend for both her and her boyfriend, because not two hours after Sam had left, Jess heard a knock.

The problem with the knock was that it wasn't on her apartment's door. It came from the window. Jess lay in bed for a moment, staring at the ceiling and wondering whether or not she should get up, but when the knocking came again, she sighed and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Not wanting to make the same mistake she had when she'd been greeted by Dean, who had _somehow_ gotten into the kitchen without anybody noticing, even though their apartment was on the sixth floor and the fire escape was as squeaky as hell, she pulled her old freshman year sweatshirt out of a drawer and over her head before going to answer her window.

Jess was in that stage where you were almost, _almost_ totally drunk, but not quite, but she still knew she was going to have a bit of a nasty hangover when she woke up in the morning. She stubbed her toe on something in the dark and let fly a full string of free curses in all three of her known languages, along with some crazy gibberish thrown in to boot. She knew it might be a little over the top, but what did she care? Sam wasn't here to hear it, she hadn't cursed that freely in a long while, and if she knew anything about anything she knew what was going to be waiting for her for when she finally stopped stalling with curses and fake pain and actually opened that window: Bad news.

After a minute or so of casual dilly-dallying, and another minute listening to see if the knock came again-which it did-she finally got around to actually going to the window-thing, which opened up to the fire escape. The simple blue curtains were drawn closed, letting only tiny fragments of light from the little-less-than-full moon outside filter through. Jess took a deep breath, and a curtain in each hand, and deliberated in her mind whether or not to drag the curtains open or not. She could just go back to bed and pretend like this whole thing was a dream.

The knock came again, this time a little quicker, a little louder, and a little more desperate-sounding. Jess bit her lip and pulled the curtains open, throwing moon rays onto the hard wooden floor. Three shadows obstructed it from being a full rectangle of silver light. Her own, and the two shadows belonging to the couple standing on her rickety fire escape. Some of the moonlight caught and reflected off of one of the figure's hair, showing Jess the blonde color, though lightening and tainting it with the moonlight's silver glow.

With a sigh, Jess played with the notion of running from the window in a mad dash and hiding under her bed until the two figures left. The she threw open the narrow glass barrier between her and the people on the fire escape, and with it she threw her last possibility of hiding from this. The two people took her gesture as what she'd meant it to be: permission to enter. The one with the blonde hair, so like Jess's, entered first, the moonlight leaving her hair as she stepped into the shadows. The other one followed, but Jess couldn't very well make out his features, besides the fact that, judging by his posture, frame, and body shape, he was a boy.

Jess shut the glass door-window and shut the curtains with a fluid flick of her wrist. The figures were now just shadows, barely visible, and Jess could almost pretend she didn't see them, just figments of her imagination, wild after Dean's visit. But she could see them, and they were real. Very, very real, against all her attempts to pretend that the monsters under the bed weren't actually in existence. After all, when something tries to kill you, and almost succeeds, you have to come to terms with the fact that those stories your parents tell you to keep you from wandering the streets at night are true.

Jess turned from the figures and led them into the kitchen, the only sign they were following her was the light tip-tap of tennis shoes on the hardwood floor. When her foot passed the kitchen's doorframe, she stuck out her left hand and with a single flick of her finger, turned on the light. It flickered to life, which couldn't be more appropriate for the situation. Jess noted that she needed to have Sam change the bulb soon. If she was still around to tell him by the time he got back.

"Do you want anything?" she asked, for the first time daring to breach the silence that loomed over them like a dark cloud. She din't want an answer, didn't want to turn and see their faces, their clothes, and yet, she so desperately craved it. You couldn't cut yourself off completely from what you are in your genes without longing for some contact, and now she had it, with that added bonus of not having to say a word of explanation to Sam, and yet, she knew that they came in urgency. She'd left, and told them not to bother her unless it was urgent, and now it was. She could just tell.

"We're fine." That was the female's voice. The one with the long blonde hair that captures the moon's glow very well. Not quite huntress well, but close. Jess spun to face them, wanting to actually _see_ what they looked like with her own eyes, in good old-fashioned artificial lighting, because the moonlight was far from enough.

The girl was pretty, Jess noted. She dressed modestly and practically, with nice-fitting and discreet tennis shoes. She wore simple jeans that hugged her legs just a little bit, and looked just stretched enough to be able to deliver a fast kick. An orange T-shirt finished the outfit. _The_ orange T-shirt.

The girl did have the predicted blonde hair, cascading down her face and just a little past her shoulders in natural ringlets. It was obvious to Jess that this girl wouldn't waste her time curling her hair or applying make-up, besides just a little. This assumption was was informed in full by the powerful gaze in her stormy gray eyes. Athena, then. It was obvious by the way she held herself, like she knew she was smarter than most and she wasn't afraid to tell you so if you assumed otherwise.

The boy was a bit taller than the girl, maybe a little taller than Jess herself, and stood in a way that told you he was less comfortable with himself and his being than the girl, but he still looked fairly confident. He wore dirty tennis shoes so torn Jess was sure they were going to fall off his feet, along with jeans that had a bit more tears and rips than average, and a few cuts in the fabric that looked a little too straight to be from anything _normal_ teenagers got up to.

His most stunning feature was, by far, his sea green eyes, which had bits of deep blue swirling in their depths that Jess could see even from three feet away. Shaggy black bangs stopped short just above those breathtaking pools of cyan, half-concealing his dark eyebrows. His features were handsome, and he certainly had the body of a demigod, biceps, chiseled chest, and all. He wore that same orange T-shirt as she so vividly remembered as a symbol of both hope and danger, but both he and the girl could be no older than eighteen. Probably younger.

"You're Jessica Moore, right?" the girl wondered, arching a blonde eyebrow over her so noticeable gray eyes.

Jess nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" Short, sweet, and to the point. That was how it always was when dealing with Camp Half-Blood business. Jess noticed the boy fidgeting and looking around at the apartment, fingers drumming against his thigh. Demigod ADHD did that, and this guy definitely had it, and probably the dyslexia. Jess wondered if this certain daughter of the Wisdom Goddess had dyslexia as well. It always made things hard for them, because they _loved_ to read. Jess was blessed enough to only get very mild, almost unnoticeable cases of each, and hand't been diagnosed with either of them. The benefits of being minor, she supposed.

Suddenly, the boy turned and openly stared at her, taking in every detail with his phenomenal eyes. Jess, for some reason, wanted to be accepted by him, even though she had to be at least four years his senior. He practically oozed power. After what seemed like forever, he spoke. "Amphitrite's daughter?" he wondered, and his voice sounded a little more timid than she would have expected.

The gray-eyed daughter of Athena sent the boy a look that practically screamed "Not now!" but Jess nodded. "Yeah, I guess. She never made contact until a little over a year ago, when her symbol appeared over my head. I was pretty thankful that my boyfriend was still at the library studying. That might have raised some questions."

"A year ago?" the boy pushed, his attention-grabbing eyes full of inquiry and a small amount of hope.

"About," Jess confirmed, curious. The curiosity only increased when the boy grinned at the girl, and she smiled back, nodding softly.

"We've got business," she reminded him, and turned back to Jess. "My name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Hypnos thinks that somebody is going to try to kill you late Sunday night, and Camp sent us to warn you, and stay here until the threat is all gone."

Jess was aware that the boy was still eyeing her curiously, if a bit gingerly, and Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs, making him jump slightly. "Sorry," he murmured, and stuck out a hand. "Percy Jackson."

With those two words, realization flooded through Jess like a stream of water. Everything was explained, from his stunning eyes and messy hair, which were evidently from his father, to the way he looked at her, like she was about to bite him. Her mother had probably not been very nice to Percy, had he met her, and if he hadn't he still knew that her mother was married to her Dad. Perhaps he thought she'd be offended to have standing proof that his father had cheated on her mother, but Jess had been born because of the opposite, so she didn't see a reason to be any less pleasant to him.

It also explained why he seemed so fidgety. He was evidently more so than most demigods because the godly presence contained within his own body was stronger than most. He was no doubt dyslexic too, so far it was probably a huge problem for him in school. One question that was actually formed by realizing who he was was that, why, out of all the demigods they could have sent, they sent the most important one since Hercules. Maybe even more important. She did know that he'd been offered a place as a god, but _turned it down. _That was just plain impressive, never mind him taking down Kronos and stopping the Titans' rise.

After a stretch of kinda awkward silence, Annabeth exhaled heavily. "Look. I know we're being intrusive, but Amphitrite went through the trouble of sending very vague message in a bottle we found by pure chance, and somehow that warrants that we _have_ to drive all the way here and stay here and make sure nothing kills you until late Monday morning, and I don't think it's necessary for us to sleep in Percy's Stepdad's beat up, old Prius, and we can't leave, so if you have a bit of spare floor space…"

"Oh!" Jess's mind was jumpstarted with those words. "Yeah. Right. I guess I'm just a little disoriented. I haven't been connected with demigods for so long, and then suddenly a few of the most famous ones ever show up on my fire escape and tell me that something is trying to kill me…Sorry, anyway. I guess one of you can crash on the couch, and I have a few spare sleeping bags. If one of you guys wants to take the bed, that'd be okay."

"I'll take the floor," Percy blurted before Annabeth's mouth could even twitch. "You two can decide who get's the bed and who get's the couch."

"And they say chivalry is dead," Annabeth grumbled. "At least take a sleeping bag, Seaweed Brain."

Percy gave her a look that so obviously screamed "Duh!" that Jess had to struggle with a laugh. "I'll go get the sleeping bags," she volunteered, taking a few long strides away from the other two younger demigods, until she turned the corner and was out of their view. The she pressed her back to the wall and wrapped her two arms around her torso, giving herself a hug. She took shuddering breath, running a hand through her tangled mass of blonde hair, so like Annabeth's.

Jess had never been too special, because her mom had other children who weren't with Poseidon, many others, and she hadn't been claimed while she was at camp. Her ADHD and dyslexia couldn't even be called that, because they were so unnoticeable she only caught a faint whiff of them when having to stand rigid for her uncomfortable medical examinations and when a very long word she didn't know came up in one of her textbooks. She was just another undetermined at Camp Half-Blood, one who was determined to succeed, so when she got a partial scholarship to Stanford, with Chiron offering to help pay the rest, she jumped at the opportunity. Monsters had never come after her, and she hadn't excelled at training, being the best at archery and yet only snagging the ring right outside the bullseye, but she got by because nothing that went bump in the night ever came after her besides when she'd turned fourteen and maybe a few minor stuff. Nothing she couldn't handle.

She'd settled down, and two years ago, fun the man of her dreams. She'd tried to succeed, and encouraged him to do so as well, and soon pushed away those memories long summers of mediocrity at everything and replaced them with memories of excelling at school, and at romance. Now, two of the most respected demigods in history were standing in her kitchen, arguing about sleeping arrangements, while her boyfriend was off god knows where looking for his Dad with his wildcard brother, a Dad who'd merely gone on a hunting trip for a little longer than anticipated, and, as far as Jess could tell, hadn't been the best father to Sam.

It was all Jess could say was that is was an astoundingly lucky game of chance that had made Sam's father go missing the same time something really bad decided she was worth the attention after all. Well, she was guessing it was really bad, because if it was something like a hell hound, Zeus knows her mother would bat an eye, even though Jess had never been the best at fighting off what these things were.

Jess rubbed her temples and exhaled loudly, then moving one hand to rub the bridge of her nose for a short moment before she steeled herself, shook off her worries and doubts, and went to go get the sleeping bags. Maybe she would get some movies and books too. After all, they were teenagers, even if they were demigods too, and teenagers got bored easily. If they were going to be staying in her apartment for a few days, she better make sure they had more entertainment besides training, because gods know she doesn't want any arrows lodged in the wall when Sam gets back.

**So that was the first chapter...**

**Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm sorry. It looks like this has taken far too much time. A lot more time than I anticipated, anyway. I feel like a very big jerk. A very big jerk that kept the people who were kind enough to care, waiting. I'm sorry. *wince*. Really.**

**So I guess this is short, too. Ugh, jerk move, me! I promise I'll try to update relatively quickly next time. If I fail to do so, don't hesitate to send me reminder messages. Like, constant reminder messages. If you truly feel like I'm being an annoying twit, don't fail to tell me. That is, if anybody actually cares about this story anymore.**

**If anybody can tell, I'm attempting to go over all my previous stories and write for them if possible. Inspiration might be a little hard to come by, but I'm trying. Also, with this one. I hope those who care to read actually enjoy. ENJOY!**

Jess had to restrain a laugh when she got up at her alarm clock to get ready for the day and found the two other demigods in their sleeping positions. She reasoned that, sometime during the night, Annabeth had demanded Percy take the couch too, and he had done so, in the loosest sense possible.

While Annabeth slept on the couch like any normal person slept on the couch, head on one of the arm rests with her body stretched across the cushions, Percy was stretched across the very thin top part on the couch back, the place where you lean the back of your head when you're just that height. He was perfectly balanced, his limbs folded just so that a sloppily-placed blow couldn't unbalance him, but perhaps four flies landing on the same spot on his elbow would send him crashing to the floor.

Jess crept past them, careful not to wake either. She had a study group to prepare for, even if it was the weekend, and breakfast sounded like a good idea. With coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. After the hell of a night she'd had last night, she needed a little caffeine pumping through her system. Contrary to popular belief, Jess believed that caffeine was far more valuable than nectar, because it took a lot more of it to be dangerous, and it may not be magi-heal on wounds, but it was on the soul, which was something the nectar never touched.

Jess prepared enough coffee to fill six cups, which might have been a little much, but she didn't know if Percy or Annabeth wanted any, and she herself consumed the first cup in a few gulps right after it was done, savoring the bitter flavor. She poured herself another cup and took a plate from the cupboard, sticking four pieces of toast into their cool little toaster which could, in fact, toast four pieces at a time. Jess really loved that feature sometimes, and she made eight pieces of toast, four white, four wheat. She took three, two white and one wheat, and slathered on a good portion of raspberry jam to go along with it, biting into her first piece happily and sipping from her second cup of coffee.

Her breakfast was silent, so Jess found herself fending off thoughts which bordered on Sam and Dean and their Dad, since she was even more desperate to keep thoughts of of camp and demigods and training away. Nevertheless, her efforts were futile, so she chose the lesser of the two evils to ponder on.

Sam had always been vague about his past, but Jess had accepted that because she was too. She knew his mother had been a beautiful blonde woman before she died in a fire, and she knew what his Dad looked like from the photos. She knew that Sam didn't get along with his Dad very well, and she knew that he used to be pretty dependent on Dean. Still was, a little, she guessed. Maybe a little more than a little.

Jess had always avoided touching down on the subject of family with Sam, for a few reasons. One was that family meant Dean to Sam, and if Jess could tell anything about Sam, it was that he loved his brother. He had, and he still did. Since Sam's mother had died when Sam was a baby, and he wasn't close to his Dad, Jess knew what that added up to. It was Dean who tucked Sam in a night and kissed his boo-boos, and something bad had happened between them when he came to college. Something that broke Sam's heart, and if Jess would bet, she would bet that it broke Dean's too, no matter his player demeanor. Jess could, to an extent, tell when somebody was something on the outside that they weren't on the inside.

Oh, the perks of being a paranoid demigod.

Sam loved Dean, and vice versa, so Jess could understand if he wanted to spend a little time with his brother, especially after two years and his brother had come to Sam. That meant that, to some extent, Dean was okay with Sam's choice and had forgiven points of their last argument. She understood Sam wanting to spend time with Dean. She did. What she didn't understand was why they had to go find their AWOL father who Sam didn't love as much while they were talking. _Especially _right before that important interview.

Another reason Jess had avoided talking about family to Sam was her own. Because as soon as she chased down all the questions that weren't completely out of bounds, Sam was bound to get curious back. It was the way he was. And he would start asking questions. And sooner or later, he would come across one where she would trip over a clever lie, or freeze up. And he would get suspicious. And Sam, being Sam, would dig, dig, dig until she felt so guilty that she told him outright.

Jess wasn't planning on never telling him, after all, how would she explain why neither of her children were afraid of the water at all, ever, and how both of them had obsessions with sea shells and sea creatures? Jess had a seashell collection that she'd been loathe to part with when they'd moved in, but she'd been able to keep some of the better, smoother, prettier ones, and she was okay with that. Sam helped keep her balance, and pushed down the deepest influence of her mother's genetics. She was no spawn of Poseidon, and she couldn't breath water, or talk to any sea creature, but there were some things that came from Amphitrite that were, frankly, just a pain. Hardly any of it had ever helped her, besides pushed her to never set her eyes on her mother's husband's domain again. And now his son was sleeping on the top of her couch, and she found that she didn't mind nearly as much as she thought she would. It was at least good to finally be free to think about this stuff without feeling guilty, because that was something she and Sam had in common.

She'd left her family behind, and he'd left his. He never thought of going back, as far as she could tell, so why should she? Until now, when it was inevitable, so she may as well indulge. She missed the sea, missed the shells, and missed the other people like her who understood her, and understood the things that tried to cut their throats. Jess hadn't dealt with a monster in a long, long time, and she had no need to, but, in a feeling that resembled the emotion that came with remembering yourself indulging in a guilty pleasure, she remembered the _strum _of the bowstring as she released it and it slid past her fingertips, it's deadly projectile flying true.

Besides, Sam had gone off with his brother, so why couldn't she, just for a weekend, house two demigods?

Jess's watch beeped, and she realized that she had five minutes before she had to leave so she could get to the study group in time, and that she was done eating. Pausing for a moment, debating within her skull, she finally gave in and poured a third share of coffee into a travel mug before arranging everything in an orderly fashion and scribbling a quick note to the two demigods, still snoozing away in the next room over, telling them to help themselves, that she'd be at the campus library in a study group if they really needed her, and that she'd be back at around three, so it would be better if they made themselves lunch, and that there was deli meat and cheese in the fridge, along with only slightly limp lettuce.

Satisfied with the note, she set it on the counter in plain view, where she was sure Annabeth would see it, grabbed her cup of coffee and her book bag and keys, and strolled out the door, locking it behind her. She wasn't worried, because it was obvious from Percy's expression that he's spent a little too much time with some Hermes kids and knew full well how to pick a lock like an expert. She hoped he was still as honest as a demigod could be. He came off that way, at least. Not full of himself, loyal to boot, playful, a little clueless with girls (as all boys were), but he radiated power, practically glowed with it. She was glad that much heavy power was in good hands.

Jess simply walked to the library, trying not to think on the reason the demigods were actually in her apartment. As innocent as they seemed, they were there to stop whatever thing was after her. Jess could handle herself, to an extent, and gods always expected more out of their children that the children could actually provide, so her mother wouldn't contact Camp Half-Blood for anything. This was important. This was deadly. _Deadly_ deadly, not normal deadly.

Jess bit her lip, liking this train of thought less and less with every passing moment. If something were to get her, to grab her, to kill her dead, well, Amphitrite wouldn't mind so much as to actually send two of the most famous demigods out there her way, _especially _a son of Poseidon. Her mother loved Jess, but she didn't love her the way she loved Triton or her other children with Poseidon. Because Jess wasn't special. She was one in two dozen little messes Amphitrite didn't want to waste the energy of cleaning up on. There was another reason for her mother sending these two demigods, and Jess had the terrible hunch that it was the creature about to kill her, not actually herself, that her mother had panicked about.

Jess pushed a hand over her head, brushing her hair back from her face, and pushed the thoughts from her mind. She wouldn't think about this anymore until she had too, but she had a study group. She walked into the library greeting Brady, Cassandra, Ellie, and Markus. Clyde had decided to sleep in today, and was probably going to fail the test on Tuesday unless he felt like pulling an all-nighter…or three.

Jess fell into routine soon enough. She exchanged pleasant greetings with all of her friends, chuckled good-naturedly about Clyde's misfortune, and got out her textbooks and notes. When people inquired about Sam, she told them it was a family thing. He hadn't shared the specifics. Technically not a lie. She diverted their attention by asking about Cassandra's brother's wedding.

She held a pencil at the ready above her notebook as Ellie flipped to page 526, which was marked with a lime green sticky note. Soon, she'd pushed thoughts of demigods and her boyfriend into the back corners of her mind as factoids and test material took up main priority in her brain. She scribbled down notes quickly in an almost unintelligible scrawl that obviously belonged to a college student, occasionally glancing down to make sure no letters were written backwards. The thought of how severe Percy's dyslexia must be made her grateful that the worst she had to deal with on that front was a few backwards Z's.

Time simply flew, and yet, seemed to drag on as Jess studied with her friends. She did her best to lose herself in stress for the test on Monday, and memorizing facts, and it genuinely seemed to work pretty well. Forget archery, this was where she truly excelled.

**So that was that. Short, unfortunately. I apologize. Maybe the next one will be longer. Unlike some of my other stories, I don't define this story's chapters by roughly how many words each chapter contains. You don't care about my life, though, right? UNTIL NEXT TIME!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh! Look whose _finally_ updating. What?! Only one chapter left before this fic is over and done with? Preposterous! You never make it that easy for yourself! Oh, but I assure you, there's only one chapter left. After this. Crazy. This might actually be a short, satisfying fic with no sucky ending. Well, maybe a little sucky...FOR READERS! (Cue horror movie dun dun dun) I have a plan MWAHAHAHA! It might be a mean, cruel plan, but a plan. One. More. Chapter. I'M EXCITED!**

**Enough stalling. I think everybody reading should skip-ity-do-dah down and ENJOY!**

Jess casually strolled back to her apartment with Cassandra and Markus. Ellie had an assessment to take and Brady had a "previous arrangement". Of course, they had all teased him about that, but he'd been appropriately bashful and had hinted that she was beautiful before speeding off to go get ready. Jess smiled to herself. Knowing him, he'd spend two hours analyzing his appearance so he was the most visibly enchanting as his personal physical state could get.

She waved along with Markus as Cassandra jogged away from them, clicking her car keys so her white convertible unlocked. Cassandra got in the car, waved back briefly, and them shut the door and put the keys in the ignition, peeling out of the parking lot at a sped that might have been a little unsafe. She and Markus exchanged looks, rolling their eyes, and walked the rest of the way until they got to his car. He'd offered her a ride earlier, which she'd happily accepted. She didn't exactly feel like walking a little over a mile when not in her morning buzz. She didn't need any more thinking time.

An idea occurred to her, and she turned to Markus from the passenger seat. "Actually, Markus," she began. "Could you drop me off at the little video store about two blocks from my apartment building? I've got a weekend to myself, and I plan to enjoy it."

Markus chuckled and made the turn, pulling up to the curb when they reached the video store. Jess grinned at him and muttered a quick thanks, clambering out of his car and waving goodbye as he sped away. Then she turned on her heel and walked into the video store, pulling out her wallet. May as well make this a total indulgence weekend, since she had two teenagers for the next row days, and her boyfriend was off gallivanting with his brother.

Jess strolled into her apartment with a bag full of movies, microwavable popcorn, and movie theater candy. Both demigods seemed to be doing extra Greek training, since there was no combat training in her apartment. Both demigods were reading the same book in Ancient Greek, and both looked to be comprehending it pretty well. Annabeth was reading in while sitting on the couch with her legs crossed, and maybe she was biting her lip a little at the harder words. Percy was upside down.

Jess couldn't help but laugh a little, and both demigods snapped to attention, muscles suddenly tense. They realized when they saw Jess, and the older blonde pushed the door closed behind her. Inside the safety of her head she was wincing on the amount of monster attacks it would take to make somebody freeze up at a _laugh_. Laughter was supposed to lift your heart, not make it drop.

"What's in the bag," Annabeth wondered, closing her book and setting it to the side, which just so happened to be on Percy's chest. Percy closed his book and then picked up Annabeth's off of his chest, flipping over and setting both books on the coffee table before squirming around to get his legs down so he could sit on the couch like a normal person. Jess laughed again; she couldn't help it.

"Movies and sugar," she replied, setting the bag down and beginning to unload the contents onto the coffee table. "I feel guilty because I have another study session tomorrow, but we can hang out tonight and eat popcorn, watch movies, gorge on candy, and basically have a sleep over in the living room. I can also stay up a bit later because this one starts an hour later."

Annabeth and Percy broke out in identical grins, and Jess struggled to keep one from blossoming on her own face. She was fighting a losing battle though, and quickly surrendered to her facial muscles. Especially when Percy discovered one of the movies she'd chosen was Disney's Hercules, and crowed like a giddy roster. Annabeth just shook her head, smiling, and grabbed a few bags of popcorn to go microwave while Percy fumbled with the rental container.

Jess grabbed the various boxes and bags of candy, chocolate, and other sugary treats and opened each one, glad most of their containers served as good-enough serving trays. She lay them out of the coffee table for easy view as the sound of popping corn came from the kitchen and Percy tried not to break their television. Just as Jess was about to jump in to help, he figured out the basic everything and put the movie in.

Annabeth came out with three separate bowls of popcorn and handed one of Percy and one to Jess. Percy sat on one side of the couch, while Annabeth sat in the middle, and Jess settled not he other side. The popcorn bowls were set on the coffee table, the remote handed begrudgingly to Jess ("because it _is_ her television, Percy, and if you mess it up…"), and the movie opened up with the slow and boring beginning that was completely misleading.

The muses started out, and Annabeth mumbled something about there being four more of them. Then Hera was sparkly and pink, and it all went downhill from there. Because Hercules was a demigod, not a god who'd "lost his immortality". Pain and Panic didn't exist (at least not physical embodiments) and Hades most definitely did NOT look like that. Besides, Zeus was a totally grump (the thunder in the distance was only proof of this) and pegasus had belonged to Bellephron, not Hercules.

Also, with "Phil". That did not happen, and never would have happened. The nymphs were totally unrealistic, and so was Phil's height and grouched about Zoe the Huntress not being mentioned, and Annabeth was caught up in the historical inaccuracy of it all, but they had a good time laughing at the stupidity of the movie anyway, especially with the Hydra. The most fun, though, were the Titans. Percy and Annabeth collapsed over each other in giggles when they came on scene, and couldn't for the life of them hold it in. A few jokes about Ares being a runt in the movie, and a couple well-meant jokes about each other's parents' appearances, and Jess was switching the movie out for Clash of the Titans.

Percy fell asleep about half way through, Annabeth following shortly. They kind of stretched out so that by the time Jess was getting up to clean up their small mess, Percy and Annabeth were sleeping in each other's arms, stretched across her couch. Jess smiled at the sweetness and cuteness of the scene before her, and then turned to clean up. Fifteen minutes later her living room was much cleaner, and the promise of a warm bed was very alluring. Jess trudged her way to the bedroom and flipped over, falling asleep with her face pressed into the pillow that smelled like Sam.

Jess woke up hugging her pillow. She stretched out in bed, and just lay there for a moment, savoring the warmth, before reluctantly rolling to her feet and shuffling to the kitchen. Percy and Annabeth were still sleeping on the couch, though it seemed Annabeth had nearly pushed Percy off while still cuddling him like a giant teddy bear. Jess grinned at the sight, and grabbed the bag of bread from the counter.

She made toast and coffee again, though she left less coffee for Percy and Annabeth than before, this time considering the ADHD a factor. She wrote them a note explaining that there was cheap lemonade int heir cheap fridge, as well as jam and whatever. She practically scarfed down three pieces of toast before slowing enough to grab an extra-huge mug of coffee, along with her book bag, and get out the door.

Jess took her car this time, humming gently to herself as she pulled up outside the library. She met the rest of her group in the back, where they could be a little louder, and swatted Clyde's hand away when he tried to steal her coffee. "Mine," she reprimanded, laughing lightly. "Get your own."

"My coffee maker's down," he protested.

Jess cocked an eyebrow. "Is that why you weren't here yesterday?"

"I had a family thing," Clyde replied, shrugging. Jess stopped herself from telling him that she had a family thing too, decidedly a bigger family, and yet she'd been there yesterday. She could have been home making sure her couch wasn't used for sparring practice.

"I hope you're alright with pulling an all-nighter," she settled for instead. Clyde rubbed his sleep-darkened eyes.

"Already pulled one," he replied, and Ellie patted his shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting manner. She ended up accidentally knocking her own book bag against his butt, so it didn't really work, but it was the thought that counted.

After a few laughs and stories exchanged, they got right down to work. Jess got a little frustrated when an extra long vocabulary word appeared, seemingly just to spite her as she tried to organize the pattern of indecipherable letters into something that made sense. Eventually, a small joke was made about it and the word was said aloud several times. Jess wrote it out in her messy college handwriting, and with her own penmanship, it finally organized itself into being readable.

Studying dragged on and on, the same as ever, and Jess took small comfort in that. Demigods and deities, boyfriends and brothers. At least the boring monotony of studying, and the calm lull of memorizing facts was the same. Textbooks, libraries, and vocabulary. Not dragons, swords, and obscure family members. It was sad that her own mother classified as obscure to her, but Jess was almost used to it. Still, she thought about Sam's guilty look as he left to find the only family he had left, and decided to give him a gigantic and not-at-all-chaste hug when he got back. They did have their own apartment for a reason, after all.

They went over some more obscure facts that Jess made get stuck in her head for about an hour and a half longer after Jess stopped mucking about in her thoughts. By then it was far past lunch time, and Jess felt like another cup of coffee and a sandwich was a really good idea. She said farewell to all of her friends as she climbed into her car, but Brady ran up and barbed the edge of the door before she could close it.

"Uhh," he started out, nervously fidgeting. "I know Sam's gone for the weekend, and I don't want to impose, but I left some Psychology notes with Sam, and I was wondering if I could hitch a ride with you and get them?"

Jess tensed, mind immediately going to the two unexplainably fit teenagers in her apartment at the moment. She fumbled for a lie. "Uhh, c-could you drop by later tonight," she offered, trying not to trip over her words. "I have a…" her mind went blank. "A few chores! I have a few chores that need doing, but if you could drop by in an hour or so, that would be great!"

Brady's eyes narrowed, and Jess waited for him to call her out on her lie, but after a few seconds his face split back into a friendly smile and he nodded, grinning. "Yeah. Sure. I'll come by at four."

Jess smiled, one part requirement, one part relief. "Great," she agreed, nodding, and Brady closed the door. "See you in a few hours." Brady nodded, and Jess peeled off the curb, the library slowly disappearing in her mirrors, along with Brady's smirking face.

**Maybe almost a cliffy. Eh? Because if everybody recalls (I do, but I mean, I did a little research for this baby) Brady is the one who orchestrated the great girlfriend fire and got the whole series rolling in the first place. What do you think him coming over means? Huh? Huh? OH NO! So, like mentioned previously, guess who has got. A. Plan? Moi! So I guess you'll just have to stew in suspense and slight apprehension UNTIL NEXT TIME!**


	4. Chapter 4

***Quietly posts last chapter of story after forever and ever* So, I finally finished this, after procrastinating until I died! Sorry it took so long. It's short, too. Short-ish. do you guys think snarky is a word? I think it is, but my spell check disagrees. I'm using it anyway. It means 'with snark', and so far auto correct hasn't yelled at me for 'snark' yet, so hopefully that's a word you can look up. I hope the correct form of the word isn't like 'snarkishly', and I just look stupid.**

**Ugh, last chapter. This was so fun, though. Too bad... ENJOY!**

Jess arrived back at her apartment and saw Percy and Annabeth watching the rest of Clash of the Titans, snuggled up together on the couch. They were also providing a snarky running commentary through the entire movie, about one fact or another that the writers had botched. It was really cute. Jess wanted to have movie time with Sam when he came back, maybe even to celebrate him getting that job.

Her stomach did a weird lurch-jump thing at the thought of Sam. He was coming back tonight, and Brady was coming over at four. Where would Percy and Annabeth go? She couldn't very well just hide them in her closet until Brady got his notes and left. That would be ridiculous! Besides, they were demigods, and she knew better than to expect them not to fidget.

"Hey," she greeted them mildly, setting her stuff down on the coffee table. "So, I guess you guys are leaving tonight?"

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, her gray gaze shooting to focus on Jess. "And I think what your Mom was freaking out about was just taken care of. Television repairman that turned into something I've never seen before. I'm going to do some research when we get back to camp. I think it was in my reading somewhere, but…"

Jess nodded, understanding the point the Daughter of Athena was conveying. "So, does that mean that you guys are leaving before four?"

Percy shot her a sea green look that almost seemed hurt. "Do you want us to go before four?"

Jess' eyes widened, guilt panting up inside her. "Oh, no! I've had an awesome weekend with you guys. It's just, one of my study partners is coming over for his notes, and I can't very well shove you in a closet. And I don't have anywhere else to put you."

Annabeth shrugged. "I mean, we could take a short walk around town. But I think since the problem is gone, we can just go. And I've got a couple things to do back at camp. I'm afraid for home Malcolm is faring without me, even if it is just for the weekend. I mean, the plans for all the cabins, and the Hecate kids with their weird magic stones…"

"Yeah," Percy seemed to agree. "Plus, Tyson is arriving on Tuesday, so maybe I should clean the cabin a little." He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

Annabeth laughed and lightly tapped him on the arm. "You think, Seaweed Brain?" He grinned at her, and they both must have just gotten that couple feeling, like "time for a kiss" because they leaned in together and pecked each other on the lips. Jess nearly giggled at the cuteness.

"Well, it's…" she glanced at the little clock high on the wall, pursing her lips. "Two fifteen, so you guys can probably hang out for another eighty minutes or so."

Percy and Annabeth smiled at each other, and at her. Jess sat down on the couch with them and they watched the last tidbit of Clash of the Titans, all jeering at the movie. With every laughing comment, Jess' heart seemed to lift and sink in equal parts. She would really need to make connections with camp again, maybe in a few years, she and Sam could sign up to take a demigod that didn't have a different home into theirs. After she told Sam, of course.

When the movie finished, they turned off the television and Jess went digging in the back of her closet for a board game she knew was back there. The only thing she could find was a really old, desiccated version of Candy Land, but they had fun anyway. It was funnier too, especially since the spaces were all worn off, so you couldn't really tell what was what, and Jess was pretty sure they were all cheating a little bit.

After a brief stint of Percy celebrating his victory by serenading Annabeth and Jess, and the two blonde women laughing at Percy making it intentionally awful, the eighty minutes were up. Jess was sad to see them go, and told them as much. She also got a giant ziplock bag and dumped all the leftover candy in it for them to enjoy on the way back to Long Island. Then she sent them on their way.

After they'd left, Jess realized she'd left herself with only ten minutes to make it seem like she hadn't hosted two teenagers the entire weekend. It probably wouldn't be enough time, but she was sure going to try.

Jess shoved Candy Land haphazardly back together, trying not to break the already super broken box, and nearly flung it into her closet, shutting he closet door, so it wouldn't look like anything was amiss. She gathered up the candy trash and shoved it into the bottom of the trash bag, along with the popcorn bags, underneath a layer of normal garbage. She rushed over and threw all the movies back into the rental bag, then stashing the bag under their bed. And finally, she grabbed the mini-vac Sam had gotten as a Christmas present last yeah and used it to get any excess popcorn crumbs off the floor.

She was just shutting down the mini-vac after a very hurried cleaning job that barely made it better when there was a knock. This time, on the door, not the window. Normal people entered and exited through the door, not the fire escape. Therefore, after a crazy, but admittedly very enjoyable, weekend, her life was going to settle back into the normal pattern. At least until after college, when she could-and would-get back into contact with camp.

She scrambled to open the door, just as the second knock was coming. The door swung open, and there stood a smiling Brady. He greened cheekily at her when she ushered her in, and they exchanged pleasant greetings. Jess shut the door behind him and followed him to the bedroom that was hers and Sam's.

Brady stood in the center of the room, overlooking the bed, but making no move to look for his notes in Sam's things. Jess frowned, but figured he was probably thinking where Sam would put them, because he didn't want to snoop more than necessary.

"Hey," Brady's voice cut through the awkward silence that had befallen the room, and the air between them. He didn't turn to face her though, and a chill shot up Jess' spine, but it was nothing. "Jess?"

"Yeah," she responded, subconsciously placing herself a little closer to the door for the best exit strategy. Once a demigod, always a demigod.

"You seem like the kind of girl to," Brady shifted, and Jess saw that he was playing with something in his hands. "The kind of girlfriend to make dinner for your boyfriend if he came home late and you were already asleep?"

Jess relaxed. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks for the idea."

"No problem," Brady replied, but he still wasn't moving to look for his notes. "Anything for a friend."

"Yeah," Jess agreed, apprehension bubbling up in her stomach again. This is what she got because of the family weekend and insane mother. Paranoia against her own fiends. She forced herself to relax and move away from the door.

"…Especially," Brady continued on. "When it'll only crush poor little Sammy's heart more when he discovers your twisted form plastered to the ceiling."

Jess' eyes widened in horror, and she took a few steps back, ready to sprint for the emergency celestial bronze knife she kept in the kitchen. Brady tilted his head towards her slightly, and the door slammed shut just as she was about to pass through the opening. Jess felt a scream bubbling up in her throat, but knew that if she was going to survive against whatever this was, she was going to have to focus.

Brady turned the rest of the way, and she saw that what he had been toying with was actually a long kitchen knife, probably one hundred percent mortal metal. Her gaze flit up to Brady's face, to see if there were any irregularities that gave away what he was, and a pang of horror struck through her heart. Because in the place of Brady's normal, human eyes, pools of inky black swirled. Completely black. No white, no iris, no pupil. Just pure black eyes.

"Wh-wha?" Jess stammered, taking another step back. She didn't want to back herself into a corner, but she didn't want to be in slashing distance to whatever was possessing Brady.

Brady, or rather, Brady's body, laughed at her confusion and terror. He twirled the knife in his hands, smirking, and looked up at her, this time with Brady's normal eyes.

"Demon," Brady said, tilting his head and smirking slightly. "Have been for a while now. I was watching your little boyfriend like a hawk, because he's one of Azazel's favorites. But now that Dean's back, well, Sam can get back in the game."

"Game?" Jess asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Her mind was running a billion different tasks, trying to come up with a solution, or a way out.

"Yeah," Brady agreed, smiling slightly. "The game. The game of hunting, and demons. Sam's special, you see. Too special to just be a boring, old lawyer." Brady chuckled, and a chill ran up Jess's spine at the sound. "And, you see, Azazel's been waiting for an opportunity to throw him back into the fire. And here it is. All I need to do," he stopped playing with the knife, and pointed the tip towards her heart. "Is kill you."

Jess felt her eyes widen, and suddenly Brady jolted forward, slashing with the knife. Jess' eyes widened and she roller to the side, just under the wide slash. She popped to her feet and got on the other side of Brady, so now he was the one with his back to the wall.

"Of course," Brady continued, twirling around and positioning the knife for a better position to kill her with. "You need to be killed in such a way that Sam will know that it was Azazel, or at least a demon. The same way we killed his mother," Brady laughed again,a terrible sound. "Burning on the ceiling of his childhood nursery!"

Brady lunged forward again, and this time Jess didn't doge, but twisted to the side and grabbed his wrist, lifting her foot and kicking him in the gut with all she had. He stumbled back from the force, and the knife was wrenched from his grip. Jess somehow didn't drop the knife, and twirled it in her hand so that she could now use it as a weapon.

"Yeah?" she asked, pointing the knife towards Brady. "Maybe if you'd paid a little less attention to Sam's secrets, and a little more attention to mine, you would know that I'm a little harder to kill than that." And then she twirled and tossed the knife out of her bedroom window.

Brady stared in surprise as the knife flew through the open window and gravity took effect, sending eh knife out of reach for both of them. "Why-" he began, but then Jess was grabbing his wrist and twisting him so she she could throw him into the wall. His body made an almost satisfying thud as it smacked intuit he wall, and Jess twisted his arm around so it was in a painful position, trapped between his shoulder blades.

Brady started laughing again, and Jess could feel the vibrations from where she stood, holding him against the wall of her and Sam's bedroom. This time the laugh was filled with a feeling that Jess hated from off this monster, like Brady had just been nicely surprised, and was going to enjoy what he had to do next. Jess got a foul taste in her mouth.

"Why'd you throw the knife out the window?" Brady asked, twisting his head to one side so he could stare at her with solid black eyes that looked so out of place on her friend's face.

"Mortal steel doesn't work on monsters like you," Jess hissed, twisting his wrist some more. He didn't even flinch, and she was running out of ideas. Brady suddenly tensed, and then Jess was flying through the air and slamming into the wall opposite of the one she'd just been holding Brady against. She tried to scramble to her feet, but a sudden invisible force pushed her spread eagle against the wall, unable to move her limbs.

Brady was laughing the same happy-surprised laugh. "_Mortal_ steel," he repeated back to her. "Jess! You mentioned rough times with your family, but I would have never _imagined_ that your were a _demigod._" Brady grinned, but it was all teeth. "Tell me, whose your parent? Whose symbol is going to be on your funeral shroud when they _salvage your __**ashes**_?"

Jess didn't answer, didn't give him the satisfaction. Brady frowned at her when she didn't speak. 'Not telling?" he asked, pouting. He held his hand out and her body started sliding up the wall, slowly. The knife came back through the window and hit the palm of his hand so he cloud clutch it well, and he grinned evilly at her.

"Guess we'll just have to find out."

**And we all know what happens next. *evil laughter* I know. I'm a horrible person. If you want to imagine something different, use your imagination to imagine how Jess escapes, runs to Long Island, and comes up with a whole new identity, leaving Brady to make a fake Jess and burn her on the ceiling so Sam still leaves and stuff. And then sometime later he runs into Jess, whose finally getting used to her new identity, and she finds all about hunting, and Ruby, and stuff. Oh god, I'm getting ideas. Okay, bye! THERE IS NO NEXT TIME!**


End file.
